Sunday, June 21, 2009

Whether Japantown likes it or not...

Here's an interesting fact that also came out of the Nichi Bei Times. Just last weekend there was a community meeting with about 70-80 people attending, and NEARLY ALL OF THEM want to REJECT the Better Neighborhood Plan. But it looks like there are many community 'leaders,' community organizations, and special interests in Japantown who want to endorse this plan. Once again, going against the will and wishes of the community.

Whether they like it or not, the Planning Department and the Planning Commission are going to make Japantown "better," especially for developers (see the Market and Octavia Plan). Next Thursday the Planning Commission will rubber-stamp the Better Neighborhood Plan for Japantown.

As the Japantown Task Force itself tells us, only 10% of the population of that neighborhood is of Japanese descent, so the preservation aspect of the proposal is unconvincing. Preserving the remnants of what's left of a large, pre-World War II Japanese community---many of whom were put in concentration camps during the war---seems to be more like a marketing strategy for the remaining Japanese businesses in the area.

And the Better Neighborhoods crap from Planning is a subset of what is laughably called "smart growth" in planning circles. This means encouraging population density by changing zoning on height limits, density, set-backs, and backyards---and of course on parking. Since Japantown has the misfortune to be next to Geary Blvd., it also dovetails with another pillar of so-called smart growth---the "transit corridors" idea, which holds that we can allow almost unlimited population density along our major traffic arteries, because people can just ride Muni---already at maximum capacity and about to reduce service---or, even more implausibly, ride bicycles!

Interesting too to recall that five years ago Japantown rejected the Bicycle Coalition's idea of putting a bike lane on Post Street, which would have eliminated a lot of parking. Poignant to note too that the Bicycle Coalition has ever since been looking for someone who speaks Japanese, as if the neighborhood's rejection of their proposal was simply a matter of poor communication!